Report Claims Climate Change Could Shrink Australia’s Ski Season by Two Thirds

Australia’s ski season could shrink by up to 80 days a year by 2050 – leaving not many days left – under worst-case predictions for climate change made by the country’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO).

The CSIRO research predicts average snow season will shorten by at least 20-55 days. Currently the Australian season lasts around 110 days on average from mid-June to mid-September.

CSIRO warns if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, snow cover and duration will rapidly decline and says that the process is already underway with much less snow on average in current seasons compared to when records began six decades ago.

“Snowfall is projected to experience a reduction that increases with time, with the magnitude dependent on the emission scenarios and the altitude,” its 2015 report predicted.

An environmental group, The Colong Foundation for Wilderness, say they think the predictions means the country’s largest ski resort should not go ahead with a planned expansion and that instead ski resorts should be prepared to exit the region after 2030 after which the group say they will no longer be viable.

“We say the resorts will not have a moral licence to operate when the snow is gone, because that’s why they’re there, it really is going to end,” a spokesperson for the Foundation told local media.